Fire-escape.



0. STEVENSON.

FIRE ESCAPE. vAPPLICAUON F|LED1ULY12.1915.

Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

TFMIFI. Illqilh,

0. STEVENSON. FIRE ESCAPE. APPLICATIONA man 1uLY12.1915.

La meme@ Jau. 25, m6.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

O. STEVENSON.

F'IRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED 1ULY12,1915.

OSCAR STEVENSON, OF RIVER GROVE, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I. OSCAR S'rnfvnxsoiv, a

` citizen of the linited States, residing atv .adjustable River Grove, in the county of Cook and State of llinois. have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Fire-Escapes, of which the following is a specificaion.

This invention relates to improvements in life saving apparatus and more particula'rly to portable re escapes; and it has for its object to ,provide a strong, durable and ehi/dient ldevice of this class whereby the inmates yofthe upper stories of burning buildings maybe safely lowered to the ground.

Another object is to provide a portablefire escape comprising an inca'sed reel where-l on a cable is wounl that, as the reel descends, is paid out through the top o f the casing and passes about a sheave which is incased and provided with adjustable governors that bear directly upon the cable; said sheave casing being further provided With manually operable governors disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of the 'overnors and that bear directly upon the sheave, the purpose of both governors being to regulate the speed at which the descent is made. l W'ith the foregoing and other objects in View the invention consists'in the combination yand arrangement of parts to be hereinafter fully described in the following specification, pointed outl in the claims and illus,- trated in the accompanying drawings which form a. part of said specification' and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my img proved fire escape. Fig. 2 is a sectional "View taken on line 2-2 of.Fig. l showing the interior of the sheave casing. Fig. 3 is aside view of Figi 2. Fig. -1 is an enlarged View of the upper portibn ofFig. 1. Fig. 5 is aside elevationof 'the lreel casing. Fig. 6 is "a Yvertical sectional view taken on line `6---6 of Fig. 5. tig. 7 is a top plan view of Fig. 5. lFig. 8 is a cross section taken on line 8-78 of Fig. 1.

-iii-iey reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The reference nulneral'l denotes the reel casing which is providedA with oppositely disposed hooks 2 to which snap hooks 3 are secured that carry the body strap 4 in which the operator may sit and which is adjustable, as shown, tol a' variety of sizes. The reel casing is provided with the transverse Specification of Letters Patent.

.eye

' tures in the Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

Application filed July 12, 1915. Serial No..39,347.

shaft 5 on which the reel G is made fast'and said shaft 5 is provided with the handle 7 by which it may be rotated. The casing 1 is formed with an opening or mouth 8 ankd' with'parallel lips 9 connected-by transverse guide pins 10 and between said pins and lips and into the casing the cable 11 extends which at one end is secured to the reel 6. The said cable extends from the reel casing up through a perforation in one end of one of the hand rods 12, 13 and between a pair o f rotary guides 141, 1% carried by projections 15, 15 of the sheave casing 16 and once `about the sheave 17 mounted in said casing upon a t 'ansverse shaft 18 and out between 'rotary guides 19 retained in another projection 2() of the said sheave casing and at its free end is provided with the hook or `21 adapted for engagement with a vsuitable hook carried by the buildingorv window casing from which the apparatus is to be suspended for operation.

The reel casing aforesaid is supported by a strap 22 and snap hook 23 in engagement with a hook A .carried by said casing. said strap Q2 being in engagement with an eve formed terminally upon th'erod 13. The said hand rods l), 13 are connected by pivotal links '2G which carry a linl' 2T to-j which a snap hook 28 is secure'dvthat carries an adjustable strap 29'in which the operator may rest his feet as he sits in the strap a and descends.

Referring again to the hand rods 12, 13 they are terminally connected to the sheave shaft-18 and bulged outwardlybelow the sameand formed with elongated apertures 30 through which bolts 31 pass into brake shoes 32 which are controlled thereby and which are slidably disposed in' angular guides 33 secured to the sheave casing. said brake shoes bearing directly upon the sheave 17. Springs 34 encircling the bolts 31 bear against the hand rods 12.13 and against the brake shoes 3Q to retain the latter in frictional engagement with said sheave. To increase the friction of the brake shoes upon said sheave the operator may manually press the hand rods 12, 13 toward each other in the plane of the bolts 31.

The sheave casing 16 is provifilcd. further. with brackets 35, 35 formed with elongated apertures 36 in'ai aement with similar apercasing alf-rl through the saine the terminally threaded belts 37 pass that are provided with' nuts 33, said bolts 32" further, carrying one end of bolts 39 that pass through 'perforations in the provided upon their vcable 1I and press the samey against the sheave to regulate the movementof the same. To increase the tension of the memvbers 42 upon the cablethe nuts a0, 40 are moved inwardlyfupon their bolts thus compressing the springs 41,41 and drawing the bolts ,37, 37 toward the sheave.l

In use the operator secures the loop 21 to a suitable hook provided upon orabout the window casing and swings the apparatus out of the window; he has previously adjust` ed the rotary shoes 42 as desired. With one hand upon the rods in thevplane of the bolts 31 he takes his seat in the strap 4 and places his feet in the strap 29.' His weight will cause the cable to unwind from the reel V6 and the rate of his descent will be regulated at will by manual pressure upon the hand rods as previously described. y

When once used the cable is wound again upoh the reel by means of the handle 7 andthe device is ready for use again.

. What is claimed is 1. In a lire escape, an incased shafted reel with a handle, an incased sheave,-

provided connection between said reel and sheave, hand rods carried` by said sheave, connection between said hand rods, a strap carried by said hand rod connection, a seat strap carried by said reel casing and oppositely disposed brake shoes'operatively connected to said hand rods and having a bearing upon said sheave.

2. In a. fire escape, an incased shaftedreel provided witha handle, an incased sheave, connection between said reel and sheave including a cable, brake shoes carried by said sheave casing and having a bearing upon said sheave, means yieldingly retaining said Copies of this patent may be obtained for between which and' 35', the entire ,said shea-ve and being disposed in a plane sheave, brake shoes carried.'

at right angles to the plane of rotation or said sheave, manually operable governors for said'brake shoes, a strap carried by said governors, a seat strap carriedby said reel casing and adjustable`-rotary brake shoes carried by said sheave casing or engagement withsaid sheave and disposed in the plane of rotation of the same.

In afr'e escape, an incased sheave, an incased reel carried thereby, a cable connectin'g said reel andtsheave, rotary brake shoes carried by said sheave casing and bearing upon said cable to press the same against said sheave, means carried by said sheave `casing and rotary brake shoes for regulating the tension of the same upon said cable, hand rods carried by said sheave casing, brake shoes carried and operable by said hand rodsand in engagement with said sheave, connection between said hand rods, a strap carried by "said 'connection and a seat strap carried by vsaid reel casing.

A 5. In al fire escape comprising an incased sheave and a cable passing thereover, bolts movably carried by said sheave casing, rotary brake shoes carried by said bolts in engagement with said cable and adjusting means for said bolts carried .by said sheave casing and including spring pressed bolts terminally connected to the first named` bolts.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing".

as my own I have hereto affixed. my signature in the presence of two subscribing wit'- nesses. v OSCAR, v STEYENSON.

.Witnessesz v WM. H. KIRCHHOFE, WALTER L. Joss.

ve cents each,*by addressing? the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

associated with said 

